NGD: Baja

grayn

I went over to Reidy's in Blackburn today, to try out some Teles.  I played 5, in the end.  3 Fenders and 2 by Vintage.  One thing I noticed, was that 4 of the 5 had far too low action.  The 2 Vintage Teles were a preowned V52 in Butterscotch and a V58 Jerry Donahue in Ash Blonde.  Both were very low priced and great guitars for the money.  The Donahue model's pickups seemed very low output, compared to the other Teles but I was impressed by both of the Vintages and for next to no cash.

The Fenders included a Vintera II 60s Tele Rw Fiesta Red.  I really liked the pickups on this one and it had a nice look and feel to it.  The priciest Tele I played, was an American Professional II Tele Black MN.  Again, a very nice guitar, with all the right spec, sound and feel.  But to my mind, not worth all the extra cash.  I actually ended up going for a preowned (2015) Classic Player Baja Tele, in Blonde.

Classic being the right name, with it's semi translucent blonde body and black scratchplate.  I took to it straight away.  The Twisted Tele single-coil neck pickup and Vintage-Style Tele single-coil bridge pickup, both Custom Shop designed, sounded really nice.  Full and throaty, with all the single-coil twang you would need.  The extra switching options, giving you in and out of phase, as well as parallel/series choices, just came as icing on the cake.  All I have to do is change the strings, from 9s to 10s and that'll be all I need.  Plugged into my Blues Junior, with some reverb, it all sounds so nice.  I might consider adding some compression and very subtle chorus to the set up but I'm keen to keep things simple.

Supportact

Very nice.  I've got one of these as well and I really like it, even compared to more expensive teles. 

blueskunk

Lovely Guitars. I had a few over the years. Enjoy. 

SlopeSoarer

That looks great, enjoy!

I love Reidy's.

robgilmo

Nice , Happy NGD, I went through a good few guitars before finding one of these, defo keepers.

Deadman

Always fancied one of these, yours looks great. What’s the weight like?

grayn

Deadman said:

Always fancied one of these, yours looks great. What’s the weight like?

Solid feeling, with some heft but no back breaker.  I've owned a load of Teles, over the years, at most price points and I've never had one where weight was a problem.

chrisj1602

Great guitars, congrats!

grayn

I changed the scratchplate, to a tort one.  Not so traditional but more attractive, to my eyes.

Also the old, single-ply, black plate, was going a bit wavy.  The 3-ply new one, should be less likely to warp.

Got it from Northwest Guitars.  I liked that they had a template, with accurate measurements, on their site.

Very good price, great service and the scratchplate seems very decent quality.

ElectricXII

Nice one. Black guards are over rated.

elkay

Outstanding guitars. Mine's a 2tsb.

ElectricXII said:

Nice one. Black guards are over rated.

Black guards show up dust and fingerprints really well. Mind you, these are essential for great tone, so never wipe them off.

DiscoStu

I've got a Baja too and love it. Good score, man!

rossi

I have had several including a LPB FSR .All fine but a bit heavy for me as I am very old .other than that they would be keepers.

rze99

Bajas are the best value Telecasters.

.....Tort and Butterscotch .... Nope

grayn

rze99 said:

Bajas are the best value Telecasters.

.....Tort and Butterscotch .... Nope

I agree but Tort and Blonde........Yep.

noisepolluter

I like the new scratchplate. You should now call the guitar ‘rhubarb and custard’

Greatape

Excellent guitars, if you can find one that's not a boat anchor. Worthy candidate for a refin, if that appeals. 

Those classic player guitars were all quite nice, and decent value. 

grayn

Greatape said:

 Worthy candidate for a refin, if that appeals.  

Love the finish on it.

Telejester

Lovely guitar, and put the black guard back on. My swamp ash oswald tele weighs a ridiculous 6 lbs 8 oz and I've got a single ply aged parchment colour guard on it. The tort looks good on 3 tone sunburst, but on blonde imo it's got to be black